I thought I’d do something a little different for my post this week. Instead of writing about this or that I thought I’d make it visual. Images from film noir. Images that inspire much, though not all of my work. And I don’t think I’m alone. I think a lot of us have been inspired one way or another by film noir and much of noir is its visual look.

The film noir aesthetic is full of iconic images – some might call them tropes. Either way, they’re striking, they affect us, and they hit us on a subconscious level. Iconic images of shadows, rain, fog, neon, darkness and night, dark streets and alleys, Venetian blinds, oblique angles and reflections, low key lighting, guys with gats, femme fatales and plenty of cigarettes, smoke and smoking. They’re mostly urban, though one of the best, Out of the Past, is largely rural. And, of course, pretty much all are in striking black and white.

I’ve broken the images up into various categories. Of course, one pic might fit into several categories and pretty much all have low key lighting, so there’s no category for that.

It’s hard to narrow down all the great images to a reasonable number for a blog, and I’m sure I’ve left out some good ones. But here goes. And feel free to add your own choices in the comments. I don’t think you can put pictures in but you can tell us about them and the movies they’re from.

Oblique Angles and Striking Images

D.O.A.

Fear in the Night

Born to Kill

The Big Heat

Sunset Boulevard

Strangers on a Train

Sunset Boulevard

D.O.A.

Fear in the Night

Phantom Lady

Fear in the Night

The Lady from Shanghai

He Walked by Night

The Lady from Shanghai

The Maltese Falcon

Nightmare Alley

Black Angel

Dark Passage

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Third Man

The Third Man

Touch of Evil

Shadows, Reflections and Venetian Blinds

The Killers

Crack-Up

Double Indemnity

Fear in the Night

He Walked by Night

The Maltese Falcon

The Narrow Margin

The Narrow Margin

Pitfall

Somewhere in the Night

The Crooked Way

The Woman in the Window

Fog and Rain

The Big Combo

Follow Me Quietly

The Narrow Margin

Scarlet Street

The Blue Dahlia

Smoking

The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Maltese Falcon

Out of the Past

Out of the Past

Pitfall

Streets, Alleys and Neon

Act of Violence

Act of Violence

Act of Violence

The Blue Dahlia

Born to Kill

Criss Cross

The Crooked Way

Cry Danger

Cry Danger

Dark Passage

Dark Passage

D.O.A.

Kiss Me, Deadly

The Lady from Shanghai

People, Femme Fatales and Guys with Gats

Gun Crazy

Crack-Up

Scarlet Street

The Big Sleep

Born to Kill

D.O.A.

Dead Reckoning

Detour

D.O.A.

Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity

The Postman Always Rings Twice

I Walk Alone

The Blue Dahlia

Laura

The Big Sleep

Out of the Past

Out of the Past

Out of the Past

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

The Crooked Way

Too Late for Tears

In a Lonely Place and Detour

Lobby Cards, Title Cards, Posters

***

The author as a boy with gat, lucky rabbit's foot and the
shadow of noir over him.